Google plans London office expansion

Google has announced plans to open new offices in north London as it continues to expand its business in the UK and across Europe.

The offices will be based in King's Cross based across a 2.4 acre site with the full move planned for 2016. Construction will start later this year.

Google's vice president for northern and central Europe Matt Brittin, said the move was a boost for the firm and the UK.

"This is a big investment by Google, we're committing further to the UK - where computing and the web were invented. It's good news for Google, for London and for the UK."

Currently Google has offices dotted across London, in Victoria and the Tottenham Court Road area, but given its huge growth in all areas - particularly business which is a key focus for the firm - it clearly feels the need to expand further.

The moves underlines the growing tech community in the capital, with areas such as the East End being turned into start-up communities of tech firms to try and make the area, and the country as a whole, a tech power-house to compete with Silicon Valley.

The firm's strategy for the coming years revolves heavily around business growth, as outlined by UK head Thomas Davies in an exclusive interview with V3 last year, with big data, collaboration and Chrome netbooks all key areas it intends to push.

But Google has also been on the sharp end of some stinging criticism about its contribution to the UK.

Dan Worth is the news editor for V3 having first joined the site as a reporter in November 2009. He specialises in a raft of areas including fixed and mobile telecoms, data protection, social media and government IT. Before joining V3 Dan covered communications technology, data handling and resilience in the emergency services sector on the BAPCO Journal.